Fact Sheet ​“Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten”

Exhibition

“Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten”
Aug. 26 – March 19, 2017

Where

American Art Museum, Eighth and F streets N.W. Graphic Arts galleries, second floor

Description

Author and social commentator Carl Van Vechten (1880–1964) began taking photographs in 1932. For the next three decades, he made portraits of writers, musicians, athletes, politicians and others, many of them central figures in the Harlem Renaissance, whose accomplishments transformed American culture throughout the 20th century. These groundbreaking men and women included James Baldwin, Ossie Davis, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ella Fitzgerald, Althea Gibson, Langston Hughes, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Bessie Smith and others. Some of the portraits capture their subjects on the cusp of success as they were full of ambition but before they became famous; others depict men and women looking back on long and varied careers.

In 1980, concerned that Van Vechten’s fragile 35 mm nitrate negatives were fast deteriorating, photographer Richard Benson, in conjunction with the Eakins Press Foundation, transformed 50 into handmade gravure prints. The album ‘O Write My Name’: American Portraits, Harlem Heroes was completed in 1983. This installation features 39 images, all works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection. Many of these photographs will be exhibited for the first time since they were acquired. These portraits, spanning more than 30 years, record a vital aspect of the American Century. The photographs in this installation were selected by John Jacob, the McEvoy Family Curator for Photography.

Publication

A catalog, with an essay by Jacob, is available for purchase ($24.95) at the museum store and online.

Credit

“Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten” is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibition is presented in celebration of the 2016 Grand Opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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